Improved apparatus for grinding ores and amalgamating



C. H. GRIFFIN.

APPARATUS FOR GRINDING ORES AND AMALGAMATING PRECIOUS- METALS.

No. 35, 980. 2 Patented July 22,1862.

'&

Viagra).

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CALEB H. GRIFFIN, OF LYNN, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO \VALTER D.RICHARDS,- OF SAME PLACE.

IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR GRINDING ORES AN D AMALGAMATINGOTHE PREClOUSMETALS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 35,980, dated July 22,1SG2.

To all whom it may concern:

- Be itknown that I, CALEB H. Gm'rrnv, of Lynn, in the county of Essexand Commonwealth of Massachusetts, have invented a certain new anduseful Improvement in Machines .for the Separation and Amalgamation ofthe Precious Metals from their Ores, of whichthe follo-wing'is a full,clear, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanyingdrawings, making part of this specification, in which- Figure 1represents a view in perspective of an apparatus to which myimprovements are applied; and Fig. 2, a vertical longitudinal Y sectionof the same, taken centrally through the machine. Fig. 3 represents avertical transverse section through the cylinder detached from themachine to showits internal arrangements;

In practice it has been found that the ores from which the preciousmetals are to be abstracted afterthey have been pulverized in theordinary way are still too coarse to obtain from them the fine particlesof gold, and therefore have again to be subjected to a further processof grinding and rubbing to reduce them still finer before beingsubjected to the action "of the mercury in the amalgamator, the twoforming separate and distinct machines, and

having no connectien with each other, so as to form acontinuous process,and therefore involve the necessity of many manipulations at the expenseoftime and much labor.

I am aware that machines have been constructed to efi'ect bothoperations conjointly -'and simultaneously with thesame means, but tosuch machines there are many and serious objections, as while they grindthe ores, they at the same time flour the, mercury, and in this waydestroy its efiiciency, as it renders it very diflicult to form andcollect sists in so constructing an apparatus as thatit will not onlyreduce the ores to the necessary degree of fineness to detach andseparate the preciousmetals from the mineral substances in which theyare contained, and brighten the particles to render them extremelysusceptible to the influence of the mercury, but will afterward soexhibit these ores diluted to a thin consistency with water to themercury as to insure a thorough amalgamation of the gold and separationfrom all foreign matters,thereby procuring a greater yield by onesimpledirect process than has been heretofore prac ticable in this classof machine.

To enable others skilled in the art to make, construct, and use myinvention, I will'now proceed to describe its construction and operationin detail, here promising that the apparatus may be made of anymaterials suit-able for the purpose.

The machine, as represented in the accompanying drawings, consists of aframe-work constituting an upper, A, andlower, table, B, 'on'which aremounted and secured the operative parts of the machine. On the uppertable, A, is secured a. frame, 0, of suitable form and strength for thesupport of the cast-iron cylinder D. This cylinder is open at both endsand provided with necks a and a, which form and act as journals, andrest in bearings b,

"formed in the upper ends of the frame 0. The end of the neck a next thelower table is made to flare so as to form a discharge opening or mouthfor the ore after it has been sufiiciently ground and ready to beconducted to the amalgamating-tub. This end or opening of thecylinderboth being concentric-is made larger than the other orfeed-opening, so that the material [may be freely fed in at the one endand made to discharge at the other.

To the inner periphery, and at either end of the cylinder D, is arrangeda standard, oft-o the inner end of each of which, and concentric withthe cylinder, are mounted and secured bearings for the support ofashaft, (I, this shaft, for greater security and rigidity, being alsosupported in the upper end of a standard, e, which is secured at itstower end to the side of the frame 0 on the feed side of the cylinder D.On this shaft, at or near the center, or equidistant from the two endsof the cylinder D, is mounted a solid cast-iron guide-frame, f, of

rectangular form, and made with projecting lips at the ends on bothsides of theshaft, between'which work the sliding sides of the arms 9 ofthe rubbers h, of which there are two, one being attached to each arm bymeans of hingejoints 1'. These slides and arms may be castin one pieceand connected together at top by bands or plates of metal suitablyshaped for that purpose, they being so shaped at their upper ends astoconform to the shape-of the guide-frames In order to impart rigidityand strengthto the arms 9, stays j are cast or otherwise secured to eacharm, they being further strengthened by being connected together on theunder side of the shaft by an iron bar or plate, 1;, one end of which isfirmly bolted to each, but at such distance from the shaftdand loweredge or side of the guide-frame f as will admit of the adj ustment. ofthe arms for the purpose of raising her lowering the rubbers I: toregulate the distance between the hinged end'of the latter and the innerperiphery of the cylinder. This adjustment is eflected by means of thescrew Z, the thread of which takes into a female screw cut in a collar.formed on the upper connect- .ing bands or plates of the arms 9, whileits lower end rests on the shaft d, passing freely through an openingwithout touching it, formed in the i upper part of the guide-framef, orit may be made to rest on the top of the guide-frame f, as may be.deemed inost' advisable, or in any other well-known manner. Wit-h suchan arrangement, by the simple turning of the screws in the directionrequired, the arms can be raised or lowered to regulate the distancebetween the ends of the rubbers h, directly attached to them, andtheinner periphery of the. cylinder. By this arrangement of therubbers,

although-the bearings that support the shaft cl are secured to thecylinder, it'will be seen that the rubbers h, by. virtue of their owngravity, will tend toremain in a vertical position and in, a measurestationary, while the cylinderis left free to be rotated as rapidly asmay be required for the thorough pulverizatiou of the ores as the latterare made to pass between the rubbers and cylinders In this case tworubbers are 'used; but one only may beused if deemed desirable, andthese may be removed and heavier or lighter-ones used, as the nature ofthe materials to be acted upon may require. Or, instead of the rubbersbeing hinged at one end to the arms, they may be rigidly secured, andadjusted'in the'sanle way'to impart any required degree of fineness tothe materials to be ground. In. this connection itisproper to state thatmotionis communicated to the cylinder D from a belt passing around itsouter periphery and-thedriving-wheel of some prime motor.

Immediately under the discharge opening or mouth a of the cylinder isarranged and secured to that side of the frame 0 a hopper, E, into whichthe pulverized and brightened material is discharged. To the lower endof this hopper is secured in any suitable manner a spout, F, thatconducts it toja funnel-shaped basin, G, which forms the mouth of thehollow.

the inner one, G, of which is'shaped like an inverted hollowcone,without an opening at' the bottom,and is supported by arms attachedto its upper edge on the inside of the outer basin, G, fittingin lipsformed on'the latter to prevent its being whirled around with a motionindependent of the motion of the basin G; or it may be secured in anyother suitable manner,rigidly or otherwise. basin, G, the material fromthe spout is first discharged, whence it is discharged without beingfull and made to overflow into theouter basin, G, by the centrifugalforce generated from the rotation of the shaft H and the outer basin, tothe latter of which it is attached, as

just described.-, These two basins G and G" are both galvanized orcoated with mercury, well brightened and polished on their-innersurface, and the inner one, G, on its'outer surface also, so asto'attract such particles of fine gold as may be flowingdirectlyoverthem on their passage toward the amalgamatingtub I.- Bymaking the inner basin'removable it can be taken out when it becomescoated' with gold or its amalgam to have the gold removed aswell from itas the inside of the outer basin, G. :1 In the same way and for thesamepurpose the amalgamating-tub I may also be coated .with mercury andbrightly polished,

and the gold amalgam removed therefrom when sufiicie'ntl-y coated.

On the lower end'of the hollow shaft H,and which is supported -inbearings formed in a removable double cross-beam, J, attached to theouter edge of the upper end of the tub I in any suitable manner,aresecuredthree disks,

man, undo, the one above the other and at short dist'ancesapart, theuppermost (m) and largest and lowest (0) and smallest of which areprovided with curved-or straight radiating arms 8 on their underside,for the purpose of forcing out the water-diluted oreaud. mixing 'itwith the quicksilver after its passage downthrough the hollow shaft,.the whole of the disks for this purpose and the wings on the upperbeing entirely submerged beneath and among the mercury conta'inediu thebottom of the tubl. The middle disk, n, consists ofa perforatedv disk orwire-gauze properly strengthened with arms on its upper'side, so as tomix the ore more thoroughly with the mercury by causing it to passthrough its openings or meshes in fine streams, and thus not only retardbut prevent its passage-upward in a body. On the upper side of the diskm are secured arms or Wings 1; for'still further continuing the mixingprocess of the ore and mercury. Motion is communicated to thesed/isks asarmed through the shaft H by means of atpulley, M, keyed fast to the latter, round which passes a belt from the driv- Iuto the inner ing-wheelof the engine, the basins G and G receiving at the same time and fromthe same source a revolving motion for the purpose ofretarding,"spreading, and attenuating the diluted ore over theirmercurially-galvanized surface.

The operation is as follows: The mercury is first placed in the tub I toa depth sufficient to submerge the disks m, 'n, and 0 and arms 12, and,if necessary, some inches above the latter, after which, and motionbeing commu nieated as well to the cylinder D as the hollow shaft H ofthe amalgamatingtub I, the ore (in a powdered condition from some otherpulverizing-machine, but requiring to be still further reduced orcomminuted and mixed with water to a thin consistency) is then fedslowly into the cylinder 1) through the feedopening at the neck a, andthere subjected to the grinding and rubbing action of the cyl-inder andrubbers 11., passing during this action from the feed end of thecylinder to its discharge end, where it flows over and falls into thehopper chamber or mouth E of the spout F, and thence through the latterdischarged into the inner cone-shaped basin G, whence it is againdischarged by centrifugal force resulting from the rotation of thelatter into the funnel or mouth G ofthehollow shaft H,down and throughwhich it is conducted to within a short distance of the bottom of thetub and beneath the mercury, where it is discharged by hydrostaticpressure and the aid of the arms 8 on the lower disk, 0, which, beingrapidly rotated by centrifugal force, force it outward through themercury to the outer periphery of bat disk. At this stage of theoperation, the specific gravity of the ore and water being much lessthan that of the mercury, they are forced upward by the latter throughthe openings of the perforated plate or disk or meshes of the wire-gauzea in fine streams, and thus thoroughly mixed and incorporated with themercury. Still ascending, they come within thesphcrc of action of thearms 8, secured to the lower side of the upper disk, in, and by themforced out toward theinner periphery of the tub, between which and edgeof the disk at they escape above, but still through the mercury, and areagain subjected to the agitating and mixing influences of the wings orarmsp, secured on the upper side of the disk in, until they are finallyejected from the mercury,leaving behind the precious metals in ana-i'nalgamated condition with the iner( -ury. As the water and dirt(powdered ores, &c.) accumulate in the tub above the mercury, theyareallowed to pass off through openings or cocks, suitably arranged in thesides for that purpose, as rapidly as they accumulate, care being takennot to arrange them too high above the upper surface of the mercury,because of the increased resistance that would flow from theiraccumulation to the descent of the ore and water through the hollowshaft, unless the latter was correspondingly elongated. By this methodof submitting the orcs containing precious metals to the mercury theyare subjected to a. more thorough search than has been heretoforepracticable, and enable me to obtain a much larger percentage of themfrom the same ore.

This apparatus may he used either in connection with cold water as themenstruum or dilutent of the ore, or with boiling, for which purpose afurnace or steam may be used for imparting the heat, a particulardescription of which it is not deemed necessary to give, as it forms nopart of my present invention, and hegeintended to be patented.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is-

1. The combination of the rotating cylinder D with the adjustableswinging rubber 71, both being arranged, constructed, and operated inthe manner substantially as and for the purposes described.

2. In connection with these the hopperEand spout l",thedoublefunnel-shaped basinsG and (.t', hollow shaft 11, disks in, n, and 0, asprovided with arms 8 and p, and tub I, the whole being arranged,constructed, and operated in the manner substantially as and for thepurposes set forth.

3. In combination with the basins G and G, or their equivalents, andhollow shaft H, through which the'ores to be amalgamated are passed andfed into the mercury, the arrangement of aseries of disks, m, n, and o,the upper and lower ones of which are arms or st-irrers and the middleone with perforations, the whole being submerged in mercu ry, andoperating in the mannersubstantially as and for the purposes set forth.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand this 1st day of Hay, A.D. 1862.

(J. H. GRIFFIN.

Witnesse Enwm Ivnsox, I), 121cm ans.

provided with

